Run: Don't look back - Book 1
by G.M.Rivers
Summary: Running away from the people that wanted her head. Hiding in crappy places. Surviving on her skills as hacker, fighter and thief. That's how she lived. She was a wanted criminal. Always on the run. Not like she had a choice when there were a couple of assassins, a few spies and groups like SHIELD after her. She has to survive, but she is broken, and made a mistake, she got caught.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

 **This is my first fanfiction, so sorry if it's a bit crappy or if it has mistakes, please tell me, I'd love some feedback. But please if you comment don't be rude! I hope you like it!**

? ﾟﾔﾻ **WARNING** ? ﾟﾔﾻ  
 ** _May contain violence, self-hate, cursing and potential triggers. If you are uncomfortable with any of this, do not read._**

 **Summary:  
** Running away from the people that wanted her head. Hiding in crappy places. Surviving on her skills as hacker, fighter and thief. That's how she lived. Her path in life... She was a wanted criminal, a fugitive. Always on the run. Not like she had a choice when there was a couple of assassins, a few spies and whole organizations chasing her. Of course, she wasn't exactly the image of innocence, she knew things that could sink groups like SHIELD to the bottom, she fought well enough to escape a certain redheaded Russian, twice, and she had killed before, granted, they were not very nice people but... What was she supposed to do? It was kill or be killed. She didn't have anyone that could help her, no friends, no family that knew she existed. But honestly, she was tired, bored in a way. Who could blame her? It's not like she could get a hobby, she was too busy trying to stay alive to start collecting stamps. But she knows that when you live like that, you have to go on, there is no turning back. She has only one choice, surviving, well, until she breaks. What she doesn't know is that she is already broken, and because of that, she made a mistake. She got caught.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own the avengers or anything that you recognize.

 **Chapter 1** _:_

 _I want your word. I need you to promise. Promise me you will hold on. Promise me that you won't give up. That you won't let go. Live your life, forget the pain. And remember me._

Run. Hide. Survive.  
That's all she ever did.

Even now, as she walked down the cool streets of London, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder every few minutes. She was being paranoid, and she knew it. However, after everything she had gone through, nobody would blame her. That is, if they knew. That was the problem. Nobody knew anything about her. She had lived in the same flat for over six months, lived in London, but yet, not even her landlady knew her real name. It was all fake. Fake name, fake age, fake hair color, fake piercings, fake life.

Most people would be shocked. Nobody could live like that! They would never understand that she could. She was so used to being alone, that she hardly noticed anymore, or at least that's what she told herself. She had spent most of her life as a fugitive. Always on the run. She didn't have anyone, no friends, no family. Not anymore. It wasn't good to get attached, her trainer had always said. She didn't believe him, she used to think that numbers were strength, she was proved wrong a few years later. It wasn't a nice way to learn her lesson. She could live with that. "It's not good to get attached, it will only hurt you." She may have thought it was rubbish before but now that was one of her most important rules. Every single time that she had tried to get close to any kind of relationship, someone got hurt. Sure, that's normal, but only when the hurt is a heartbreak, not when it implies losing a limb or two. And the pain? Knowing that she was the cause of others getting hurt? It never left. Every minute, every second that went by, made it harder for her to hide what she was really feeling. Yes. It was better this way.

She stopped her thoughts as she saw something from the corner of her eye. She "accidentally" dropped one of the papers she was holding and used the opportunity to look behind her as she picked it up. It was nothing, just a couple of kids... wrestling? She shook her head and took a deep breath, she shouldn't get this alarmed over some children having fun. Huh. There's a strange word. Fun. She honestly couldn't remember a single time where she had had fun in which she was older than twelve. The last she could remember was when Will- she sighed, some things were better kept behind a wall.

She had worked too hard on forgetting to let it all go to waste with some wishful thinking. Obviously, she knows that someday it will all go down, but she still had a lot to do until then. Sooner or later someone will find her, be it the FBI, SHIELD, or someone else. Doesn't really matter, they all want her the same way, sooner or later she'll end up buried six feet underground.

It's the truth, no one can run forever, she had to make the most of her time. After all, she still had a promise to keep.

She held her breath at the sound of footsteps outside. She could hear them rummaging through her stuff while trying to find something of use. Seconds turned into minutes and after what felt like an eternity, the leader of the search party finally gave the order, "Retreat! There's nothing! I repeat, retreat"

She took a long breathe and let out a sigh of relief as she heard the footsteps fading into the distance. Once silence reigned again, she opened the small door slowly and hurried her way out of the air duct. Apparently, her paranoia hadn't been unjustified. Quickly, she packed her laptop, money, fake ID and some survival basics in her backpack. She grabbed her jacket and a beanie hat and put them on.  
Silently and as fast as she could manage, she got out of the flat and ran into the streets.

This night, the city of London was covered in a thin layer of snow, the air was chilly but the beauty of it all hit her once again as she took in her surroundings. It was almost midnight, but the stars and the moon gave a special glow to the city. She had lived there for less than a year but that time was enough to learn that London was truly a beautiful place... but once again, she had to leave.

The streets were calm and almost empty tonight, but she knew better than to let her guard down, especially after tonight. She pulled down her hood so that it covered her face and tightened her grip on her backpack and ran, light on her feet and barely making a sound.

She couldn't believe they had found her. She was usually so careful! She knew it was a risk to stay for that long but she was sure that nobody knew where she was, and she had been tired of running away from everything every few weeks.  
After a few minutes she slowed down from running to a fast paced walk, and from that to a normal pace. She went on for about half an hour until her instincts acted. Someone was following her. She got down on one knee and pretended to tie her shoelaces as she listened for any kind of movement or unusual noises. She heard nothing, but the uneasy feeling wouldn't leave. She closed her eyes for a second and her hearing heightened. She heard breathing and footsteps, light and almost completely silent, a woman's, and a trained one.

She stood again and adjusted her pace and breathing slightly so that it would match the man's, whom she could hear clearly now, hoping that with some distance between them, he'd rely on her hearing to try and find her and her own sounds would stop the stalker from noticing her.., but she knew that if she went any faster, whoever was watching would know she had seen her. After a minute of walking as if everything was normal, she turned into a dark alley and hid between the shadows.

Not even a minute had passed when a woman with fiery red hair and a black skintight suit cautiously entered the alley.  
She'd seen her before, a few years ago. She remembered that night at Moscow as if it were yesterday. Her name was Natalia Romanova, the Black Widow, though she always just called her 'паук', Russian for spider. She had done some research on her a few months ago after seeing her on TV, saving the world from the chitaurii. She went by Natasha now, and worked for SHIELD, unlike seven years ago when she had been sent to kill her. Her redheaded _best friend_ had chased her all the way to Budapest.

Natasha scanned the place with her eyes but failed to see the fugitive hiding in the shadows. She had been tracking this girl for months, well, until Loki happened. Now she was back on the game, but she didn't know anything about the person she was following. All she knew was that there was a person out there with information about nearly every secret organization that Natasha could name. And she knew plenty. People back at headquarters called her the Wolf. But for some reason, she never tried to reveal anything, never contacted any of the organizations, never asked for anything, they didn't know who it was or what she wanted, she just had information. And that made this wolf even the more dangerous.

The runaway wolf considered jumping on the agent and running, but this notion was quickly stopped when she saw the gun on Natasha's hand, that and a small flashback of the last time they had fought. Silently, she moved in the dark like a shadow. Her dark clothes helping her camouflage and blend in and her hood hiding her face.

She could see the agent tense and knew that she had felt her move, so she stopped and held her breath, slowing her heart and calming herself.

As soon as she saw the muscles on Natasha's hand relax, she dove forward and with a flip, kicked at the agent and caught her in the stomach, but she recovered quickly and sent her own attack to the fugitive. She ducked, the agent's foot barely missing her head, and then blocked a handful of hits, though a few hit their mark.

The hooded girl cursed under her breath as Natasha slammed her into a wall. She kicked out to shake her off but let out another line of colorful words as "паук" caught her foot and flipped her around. she got up and searched her brain for everything she had on the agent. She analyzed and copied.

Only a few seconds had passed when she managed to perfectly assimilate паук's, that is Natasha's, fighting style. She blocked all of her hits all the while she managed to land a few hits on the agent, including a powerful roundhouse kick that sent her smack into the wall, giving her just enough time to take Natasha's gun from her holster and hitting her head with it, leaving her unconscious for a few minutes. But a few minutes was all she needed.

She took the rounds out of the gun and threw it far away ran out of the alley and stuck to the shadows as she made her escape. She almost got away until she spotted another silhouette on the roof of a nearby building. The person was following her and jumping from building to building as they ran along her.

Unexpectedly, she caught a glimpse of an arrow and rolled on the ground just in time to avoid being hit, but the arrow did manage to barely skim her leg and rip a bit of skin. She winced, but pain was nothing new to her, she got up, pulled on her hoodie to make sure it still covered her face and kept running as she saw the person from the roof draw another arrow.  
At least she knew he didn't aim to kill, he shot at her leg, they wanted her alive.

She ran until her legs were burning, but she still couldn't lose the guy on the rooftop. Now she realized that she would never get away like this, he was obviously slower than her, but he had good tactics and kept blocking her way, she had to fight.

She took a sharp turn left and then doubled back in what would be a blind-spot of whoever was up there, then she turned right and into an apartment building went up the stairs so fast, she might as well be flying. She got to the rooftop just in time and had just taken her dagger from her backpack and hid it in her boot as she saw the man run and jump from a nearby building to where she was standing.

He was shorter than she had thought but twice as built. He took a cautious step forward as she saw him draw an arrow, "Don't." she said, talking in a lower voice to hide herself better.

At first he looked surprised that she had talked but he shook it off quickly, "You're the mysterious wolf." he said.

She nodded. "That is what some call me." She almost growled at him, she hated that name..

"Who are you?" He asked curiously.

"No one." She answered in the same voice as before, slightly lower than usual. Slightly surprised that this man, who she already figured out to be Hawkeye, was curious instead of trying to kill her. But even if he kept his calm but fierce demeanor, she knew he didn't like her answer, he was getting annoyed. Good.

"SHIELD doesn't go after 'nobody's", he said as-a-matter-of-factly while slowly stepping closer.  
Though she was too busy thinking about her experience with SHIELD  
to pay any further attention.

All the times she had been chased, she had met quite a few agents, she had even seen Fury one before but not this guy. So, against her best judgement, she was curious, "Why did they send you?" He answered, but not how she wanted, "SHIELD, it stands for str-" "I know what it stands for. I want to know why they sent you." The agent seemed a bit taken aback by her reaction and raised an eyebrow at this but otherwise kept his stoic posture. After a few seconds of hesitation he said, "It's my job.".

"What is your real reason?" She asked, though she didn't really expect him to answer how he did.

"I volunteered."

 **A/N**  
 **So that's it for now, I hope you liked. Hopefully, I'll update again soon this week. See you soon!**  
 **-GMR**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. **"**  
-Robert Frost

* * *

She didn't really expect him to answer, at least not with the truth, but he did, "I volunteered."

As soon as she heard it something in her brain snapped, and it hit her. Of course he volunteered! Natasha Romanoff was here and who else would be with her but Clint Barton? How didn't she realize before? "You are Hawkeye" She stated, barely above a whisper, her mind going a hundred miles per hour.

SHIELD, that was always dealing with dangerous things, was willing to send not one, but two living legends after her. The Black Widow and Hawkeye, and to think that it was her that brought them together the first time... In her opinion, this was really bad. So, she did the only thing she could think of to get away, the only way she was taught, she attacked.

With lightning speed she ran forward and with a summersault got herself behind Hawkeye and kicked his legs out from underneath him, hoping that he'd hit his head for a quick knockout. But of course that didn't happen, he was Hawkeye, not some rookie kid who couldn't aim a shot if his life hung on a line.

He sprang up immediately and feigned a punch to the left so he could hit her by the right side, but she saw it coming and ducked while kicking out a leg that made him stumble backwards, but not fall. He wasn't as good as Natasha, but she was tired of playing around and just wanted this over with. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She got up and kicked at his chin but he ducked and managed to land a blow on her stomach, she doubled over from the blow but quickly shook it off and held her ground for a good two minutes, evading his hits and trying to bring him to the floor, before he placed another well aimed blow with the side of his bow. She glared when she tasted something coppery in her mouth. He was too damn stubborn. She changed her tactic and started to fight a bit more on the offensive, but still guarded most of her skill. When he continued to attack she lost it. This fight was taking too long. Instinct overpowered her thoughts.

Her eyes flashed red as she kicked at his chest, using his weakness to reach down into her boot and take out her dagger. Once again she calmed herself and stopped her attack to quickly find an opening in his form.

As soon as he saw the knife he got back into a fighting stanza, but she was too quick. He collapsed on the floor. She didnt need to look. She heard the crack. She could smell the blood.

Acting fast, she put the dagger back in her boot and whispered a small apology to the man lying on the floor, she turned around and ran.

She ran and ran without looking back. After a while the adrenalin flow slowed and she stopped her relentless advance to a walk. She closed her eyes and sighed, why couldn't they forget about her? Did they have any idea how annoying it was to create a new identity? The knife and the blood kept replaying themselves in her mind. Her steps faltered as a distant memory came to her, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.

At last, she was far enough as to not be related with the wrecked apartment, after all they didn't really know who lived in that place, she never used her real name. She hadn't used it in a long time.

It was time to move. She had to be careful and she knew it. This wasn't her first time running, others have found her before, but this time they sent two avengers. _Two_. That was as far as she'd take it. Her shabby appartment wasn't worth it. She could only imagine what would have happened if they caught her... Well, she escaped, but now she didn't have anywhere to go. Again.

She thought about it for a while and realized that ever since the 'incident' three years ago she hadn't found anywhere to go. Well, at least somewhere with a familiar face who didn't want to kill her. She missed it. Domestic life. Friends. But that wasn't meant to be. She couldn't. Not after what happened.

No matter where she went or what she did... She would never live a normal life, even if she tried. Her teacher was right. If only she'd realized that sooner...

She stopped at a gas station and with some gauze that she had packed up in her backpack she wrapped her leg where the arrow had cut her. It wasn't a deep cut, barely grazed her, but if she kept it clean she'd get rid of it sooner.

Once she got out of the city she took a cab to the nearest airport outside of London. She grabbed her backpack and searched for a while until she found one her fake ID's and matching passport, as well as a permit to take weapons onboard. She looked at the picture on the document and defty put on the blue contacts and blonde wig that would help her follow her character.

She walked through the airport undetected and bought a ticket for the next plane that left for america. That place turned out to be North Carolina. She'd only been there once, a couple of years ago, when she was running from a HYDRA assassin.  
It was nice... Mostly.

She was about to board when she caught something from the corner of her eye. Two men, dressed in identical black suits, were just outside the security checkpoint and about to get through.

She put on a light pink lipgloss and tied up her hair in a messy bun, hoping that maybe she would be able to trick the men. They always underestimate the innocent looking grls.

Right outside, the two agents thought they saw the fugitive getting on the plane. They hurried to get to the airplane and after some convincing, the officer standing at the gate let them inside. They looked around the plane, ignoring the questioning glances of some civilians, but there was no sign of the hooded fugitive. One by one they started going through the passengers.

Her documents were good but if these guys were SHIELD too, they might notice a few things didn't quite add up. She glanced around and spotted an old man struggling to get his suitcase on the upper compartment. _Alright grandpa_. She smiled and walked towards the man tapping his shoulder lightly, "Excuse me sir, would you like any help."

"Why thank you miss, you are very kind." He said smiling at her. "Not many young people would help an oldie like me."

"It is quite sad isn't it?"

"It sure is." He smiled sadly. "The world isn't what it used to be."

"Truer words have never been said." She said as cheerfully as she could.

Just as he was about to say something else the men in the suit finally reached them. One of them nodded at the older man while the other just tapped her in the arm, "Papers please."

"Of course gentlemen, just let me help this kind man store his luggage and-"

"Papers _miss_."

She smiled, "Yes of course,if you woul wait just a-"

"Now."

"Hold on son, just a second." The old man said, "This young lady does not deserve to be talked to like that." he scolded the agent. Unknowingly to both, she smirked mentally, congratulating herself on a job well done.

"Sir, I'm just doing my job. Now if you would-"

"Being disrespectful to ladies? What would your mother say, huh?"

"With all due respect-"

"Respect? This lady here knows respect, you on the other hand..."

The other man elbowed his partner impatiently as he had already finished checking the rest of the plane. "Sorry sir, my apologies." The agent said, clearing his throat and actually looking uncomfortable as he took his leave with his partner. Once the men in black left the plane, leaving quite a few civilians confused, she was sure they weren't coming back, she relaxed slightly.

She smiled at the man, "Thank you, you didn't have to do that..."

"Nonsense, it was my pleasure. Now, I never introduced myself, Albert Wilson."

"It's been a pleasure meeting you Mr. Wilson."

"Please, call me Albert, Mr. Wilson makes me sound old." He chuckled.

She laughed lightly, "A pleasure, Albert. I'm Amanda, Amanda Johnson."

The plane took off and she readied herself for the twelve hours flight. She made small talk with the man beside her, but soon enough, the events of the day caught up with her and she fell into a troubled sleep.

* * *

 _The sky was dark and cloudy, it was raining lightly. It was an ordinary day, her parents were at home waiting with the baby and her brother was at the neighbor's house playing video games with the kids that lived there. She had just gotten home from her friend's twelfth birthday and was about to go in when she heard it. A scream, full of pain and sorrow. Her mother's._

 _The girl ran inside and ran up the stairs, "Mom, mom!" She ran into her parents bedroom that welcomed her with a terrible sight. On the floor, was her dad, a puddle of blood around him and his throat slit. She let out a strangled scream, her hand flew to her mouth as she let out a choked sob. Then, she noticed her baby sister crying in her cradle, she lifted her into her arms and held her as if she could somehow protect her from all the chaos around them. Her innocent eyes filled with tears and shock as she stood there, Cassie in her arms, and watching her mother cry for her now dead husband._

 _Then the image shifted and she was at a funeral. Her mother's funeral. She was standing beside her little sister, holding her and crying silently as the casket was being lowered, and her brother said his part. Her black dress, the same one she had taken to her father's funeral, only six months before._

 _The image changed again but it was the same place, only three months later. It was Christmas Eve. She was crying as her brother held her and her little sister trying to give them some comfort, but crying as well. They were standing in the graveyard, staring at the writings in their parents' gravestones._

 _Once again the image shifted. Now she was running. Getting out of the hell-hole that had tortured her and her brother for so long. He was running right beside her, but with a slight limp. From the both of them, he had gotten it worse. His face was bruised and cut like both their wrists. His eyes void of the light that once was. Both teenagers had gone through more in the past five years than most people did in their whole lives. They were both panting and running, their feet slapping on the ground. They were about to get away when two guards came at them. She may not have been as strong as her brother, but she held her ground. She kicked the man and made him stagger backwards and away from her, she was about to turn and run, that is until the man unsheathed a dagger._

 _Even with his injuries her brother was strong and fast, and though the guard might have been stronger, he was slow. In record time, he had managed to knock out the guard and kick his gun out of reach, just in case he woke up. He turned around to check on his sister just in time to see the other guard unsheathe a dagger._

 _The man lifted the knife above his head and threw it on her direction. But he was faster, he saw the knife coming and without a second though, he threw himself in front of his sister and pushed her aside._

 _She staggered to her feet and turned to thank her brother, but the knife protruding from his chest stopped her from doing so. She ran to him just as he collapsed to the floor._

 _She fell beside him and held him in her arms, not caring about getting her brother's blood on her. While the man, taking this opportunity, ran away to sound the alarm. But she managed to catch a glimpse of him, and she would never forget his face. She would never forget the dark pits that were his content eyes as he looked at his victim one more time._

 _Her eyes were glazed over with tears as she held her brother._  
 _"Will... Will! What have you done... Will, please... Get up Will... W-will please! Will!" she said between sobs and cries._

 _"Hey..." He tried to say, though it sounded more like a whisper. "Take care of yourself, will ya?"_

 _"I won't need to... that's your job remember?" She said trying to smile but failing._

 _"I need you to promise..." he said through the pain as a single tear escaped his eyes._

 _"Will... please... William... T-think of Cassie... She... she needs her older brother, Will..." She whimpered._

 _"Promise me you will hold on." he continued._

 _"Will... I need you... please..." she whispered in desperation as he started to close his eyes. "Please..."_

" _Promise me that you won't give up."_

 _"Will! Stop it!"_

 _"That you won't let go."_

 _"Stop it! Please..." She cried, her voice getting weaker with each word._

 _"Live your life... forget the pain."_

 _"Please... you're all I've got..."_

 _"And... remember me..." He said as his grip on her hand went weak._

 _No!_

 _"Goodbye sis... I- I love you..." He said as his eyes closed one last time and he drifted into eternal sleep._

 _"Will... no, no, NO! Will! WILL!" She shrieked desperately. "WILL! I promise... please... I promise..." As her words dissolved into sobs._

 _Closing her eyes and clenching her fists, her heart broken and tears streaming down her face as an alarm sounded in the background, she looked up to the sky and let out a heart-wrenching shriek filled with pain, loss, and grief..._

* * *

She woke up with a silent gasp, her face dry and without tears, but her eyes glazed over with griefif only for a second. _'I promise.'_

She looked around momentarily forgetting where she was and saw people unbuckling their seat-belts and getting up from their seats.

She sighed and got up. _Here goes nothing_. But she couldn't stop thinking of her dreams. They had stopped hunting her for a while now, but clearly they were back. If only she could ray away. But they weren't dreams, they were memories, they were the reason she couldn't let anybody in again. If she ever learned one thing it was this: You can't run away from the past.

 **A/N  
Hey guys, so that's it for today! I hope you liked it! Don't be afraid to leave a review I'd love some feedback, tell me what you think. See you in a few days!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **"** Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering. **" -** Paulo Coelho

* * *

She got out of the airport, keeping her head low just in case there was someone there that would recognize her. She took her phone out and searched for somewhere to stay until she found a nice hotel where she could stay in for a while and hailed a cab.

"Where to?" Asked the driver.  
"Greenplace Hotel please."

The ride to the hotel was quiet except for her thoughts and a few attempts at small talk from the driver, an overfriendly man with a painfully orange tan that most likely came from a bottle. After she tried to politely end the conversation the driver didn't seem to take a clue, therefore she ignored him until he finally understood that she wasn't in the mood for chitchat. At last the cab pulled up in front of an old-fashioned three-story building just beside a small park, if you could call it that, that consisted of grass, dirt and a few trees. The building was old, but homey, the letters in the sign at the door slightly faded, but clear enough to read.

 _Greenplace Hotel - Welcome_

The walls inside were painted a creamy white and the wooden floor creaked slightly when stepped on specific spots. The air smelled almost like chocolate and cinnamon, probably courtesy of a 'Christmas edition' air freshener going by the looks of the place. It was completely decorated in red green and white, a small Christmas tree covered in ornaments in the corner and flowers and mistletoe in every doorway. Even thought this hotel wasn't big or expensive, it was certainly big on holidays.

She walked to the receptionist and rang the little bell. A girl in her early twenties with excessive makeup turned towards her with a smile, "How may I help you?" she asked.

"I would like a room for the night please." She said, adding a small smile for effect.

"Of course! What is your name?" The receptionist said, still smiling as if she had won the lottery.

"Jane Mathews" She answered.

The receptionist just kept smiling and gave her the key, "There you go! Enjoy your stay and have a good night!"

She nodded and gave her a fake smile before grabbing the key and scurrying away from little-miss-sunshine. She could only tolerate so much in a day. There were about 80 rooms per floor and hers was on the third story. Sighing to herself she went up the stairs and walked around until she found room 102.

Inside, the room felt almost like she supposed a home would feel. It was small but cozy, a warm color scheme, with a single bed, a small writing desk, a balcony, a TV, and a mini-fridge. And _of course_ a miniature Christmas tree on the desk. She felt a pang of loss as she remembered her own room from when she was a kid. It was very much like this one except there were two beds instead of one, one of them her sister's, and instead of a mini-fridge there was a chest full of their toys and stuff and a small bookshelf where the TV was.

She scowled at her own thoughts. Childhood stories? She was getting too... emotional. Maybe having a somewhat normal routine had affected her more than she originally thought. She had no time for this. She had to focus on surviving, she couldn't afford to have an emotional surge for something so mundane as how a room looked like. She was getting careless after spending so much time away from the battlefield.

She thought about taking a shower, but she was too tired to care at the moment, so she just decided to shower in the morning.

She tucked herself under the covers and closed her eyes, hoping that this time, she would have a dream-less sleep. Too bad we don't always get what we want.

 _She was back in that horrid place. Her arms, legs, and stomach were covered in cuts and bruises. She was sitting in a cell, with no light and no windows, and no one to hear her cries but the other two kids that were kept there, sisters, who at the moment were in a separate cell. The air was cold and she was shivering, her lips tinted a slight blue and her arms wrapped around herself in an attempt to get some relief from the biting cold. Then it started, the screams. She whimpered and flinched at each of those agonizing screams, fearing for her brother's life and blaming herself for his pain. The only reason they were hurting him was because he reused to knock her out after taking her down in their last sparring session. This just reminded her of the pain she had felt only a week ago when she had refused to hurt a small girl, one of the 'experiments', the big sister no older than ten years old._

 _She had been beaten and tortured for hours, and now her brother because he refused to fight her harder than necessary, just because he wouldn't knock out his younger sister. He had refused because he believed that once someone was bleeding and pinned to the floor like she was, they deserved some mercy. Their trainer didn't like that._

 _Even now, she could here his voice shouting 'No mercy!' every time he beat Will, engrained their latest lesson in her brother's brain._

 _Because that's what they did, they made them learn how to fight and hurt others. Trained them to be the perfect killers. All of it, just to test their strength and combat skills. They were lab-rats._

 _The screams continued for most of the night, only pausing occasionally for a few seconds until they stopped completely. That night, she hadn't slept at all. The next morning, a guard opened the door to the cell and dropped her staggering brother into the cell. His body bloodied and cut and his eyes empty of the spark that used to be there. Then the guard pulled her out of the cell, "It's your turn_."

"NO!" She woke up with a scream and tears streaming down her face. After a few minutes of trying to calm herself down she reached for her phone to check the hour. 5 am.  
She groaned to herself as she knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so she got out of bed and took a quick shower.

She grabbed a cereal bar from her pack and ate it while she watched halfheartedly what had quickly become one of the few shows she enjoyed when she was living in London, Sherlock. She found it rather interesting on the days when she could do nothing but wait. She spent the rest of the morning on the computer trying to find an apartment at a decent price and as out of civilization as possible. She was looking at a small building when she got a small alarm: _Signal Detected_ _._

Her stance hardened and her heart accelerated, this didn't happen often. She opened it and growled. They followed her.

She closed her laptop and quickly grabbed all of her stuff. She hid her dagger in her boot and ran to the balcony just as she heard a distant conmotion at the reception desk, "Search the building!" She looked around and realized the balcony from the neighbor room was close enough to jump. She stood on the edge and balanced herself as she calculated her jump. She threw her backpack to the other side and jumped just as she heard somebody break down her door.

This time she looked down, there, eight feet down and slightly to the right, there was another balcony. She debated wether to jump or not, but the sound of the angry agents convinced her immediately. She pulled her pack over her shoulders and jumped, landing with a silent thud and a small groan as her ankle ached from the impact. She ran inside that room and was grateful to find that it was empty.

She opened the room's door slowly and peeked outside. There was no-one, for now. She got out and spotted a supply closet, so she went inside and was glad to find a maid's uniform. She put it on and added some makeup. She put her hair up in a bun and taking a small cart, hid her pack between the cleaning supplies, but when she did, a small item fell out. She picked it up and immediately recognized it as a tracking device. They must have planted it on her sometime before getting on the plane. She put it in her pocket and walked out as casually as she could manage.

If she was lucky, they wouldn't notice her. Over the years, she had been careful enough as to change her appearance frequently, hopefully, they didn't have a concrete image of what she looked like.

Then she saw them coming. As they approached her with blazing guns, she acted scared and confused and with a carefully added southern accent she asked, "W-who are you? W-what, what's going on?" Making sure her voice trembled slightly.

Most ignored her and kept searching the rooms, but one of them said, "Name?"

"Janet Donahue" Lie.

"What is your job?"

"I- I'm a maid." Lie.

"Born?"

"October 1992- Please, I swear I've done nothing wrong!" Lie. Lie. Lie.

The agent noded and said, seemingly satisfied. "Don't worry miss I'm sure you haven't. Now. Have you seen a young woman, probably hiding her face, or anything suspicious since yesterday?" Yep. He believed her.

"I- I don't know... There was a woman though, suddenly left in a hurry, but I don't know if t-that is who you're looking ffor" She lied.

"Where did she go?" He asked.  
"I'mnot sure, I just saw her run downstairs. Why?" She said.

The man ignored her question and called into his earpiece, "Foxtrot here, subject was seen going downstairs, I repeat main units report to the first floor." Then he ran downstairs as all of his men followed.

Once all of the agents had gone by, she left the cart and took her backpack to get on her way to the roof. She fished for the small sphere in her pocket and cracked it open, taking the main chip. From there, she threw the tracking device as far as she could and when she looked down, she spotted two black vans, and one of them had no driver.

The big tree next to the building was only six or seven feet down, which made it perfect to jump. She secured her backpack around her shoulders and took a deep breath. She took a small head-start and jumped, grabbing onto the tallest branches to steady herself as she landed. She climbed down the rest of the tree and sneaked behind the building. She stopped suddenly when she heard footsteps, she went to the nearest window and climbed in as she waited until the footsteps faded. She opened the window and carefully got out and walked around the hotel again until she got to the front. As stealthily as she could manage with her aching leg, she ran from the building and hopped into the van, using her dagger to yank out the wires and crossed them to start the car.

Once she got the engine starting, the noise made an agent turn her way, she looked at him and muttered, "sorry, can't stay" before stepping on the pedal and getting out of there as fast as she could manage. The wolf was back.

* * *

 **AN  
** **So, what do you think? Don't worry, the story does get better later on. See you soon!  
** -GMR


	4. Chapter 4

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -T. S. Eliot

CHAPTER FOUR: CHANGE OF PLANS

 **SHIELD Helicarrier, 33,000 feet above the pacific coast.  
**  
Director Nick Fury was pacing in his office, waiting for the report of Agents Barton and Romanoff on the mission. _Maybe this time_. He thought to himself, daring to hope that perhaps they had finally captured the wolf. There was a firm knock on the door, he turned on his chair and cleared his throat, "Yes?"

"It's Agent Romanoff, sir." called the agent on the other side.

"Tell her to come in."

Not even a second later, Natasha Romanoff; the Black Widow, entered the room, standing in front of Fury and crossing her arms across her chest. "And where might Agent Barton be?" He asked in his usual sharp tone.

"He is in the infirmary, sir, stab wound" She said, her face blank. Fury took note of her posture and the steely look on her eyes, already guessing the answer, he continued sighing, "And the mission?"

"Failed. But plan B is still on track."

"Plan B wasn't approved" Fury said, raising an eyebrow at the redheaded agent.

"It is the only choice. The point is we can track her. I managed to sneak the micro-tracker in her pack when she was fighting me. We didn't catch her, we didn't learn much about her, but we know where she is."

"Alright. Now, what _did_ you learn?" He said, emphasizing each word with a small pause and raising his voice slightly. He was frustrated and angry. Time and time again his thoughts had wandered to this wolf, wondering how could someone escape again, and again, get information that not even he knew, and never get caught by anyone. However, what got to him the most wasn't her ease at finding information, or even that she may be working against SHIELD, it was not knowing anything certain about her. The director of SHIELD was in the dark, and he did not like it.

"The way she moves. We knew that she was intelligent, but this was something else. She fought instinctively, but with enough strategy, she can predict almost every move her enemy makes. Her fighting is like nothing we've ever seen. She retaliated every single hit." Natasha said, her stony mask flickering slightly, just enough to show a glimmer of respect that only those who knew her would notice. Fury knew enough.

"Anything else?" He asked sternly.

"We need backup."

"Are you telling me that two of my best agents, two avengers, can't bring a girl in for questioning?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying that SHIELD needs help to bring a genius level trained assassin that seems to know our every secret, before she brings us down."

"What do you propose? This is SHIELD, we're the last line of defense." Natasha just raised an eyebrow and looked at him pointedly. Fury sighed and stared down at her as if she was a child. "Agent Romanoff, there are no aliens out to conquer the world this time, I don't believe it will come to that."

"Neither do I, but one more person couldn't hurt."

"Barton is injured and about to be shipped off to LA for a mission, Rogers is working his own mission with his team, Thor is floating somewhere in space, Banner is not ideal for this situation, and Stark is just annoying as heck."

"I'm sure I can get to most of them."

"The council won't approve."

"The council is the least of our worries."

"Why?" He asked, a mix between curious and suspicious.

Natasha walked to the window and looked down at the ocean. "She was holding back."

Agent Maria Hill opened the door and greeted them with a stiff nod, "Director Fury, Agent Romanoff, there's been an update on the mission"

"Agent Hill, full report."

"A few hours ago one of our men detected an attempt at a security breach, but it was sealed off, apparently, until only ten minutes ago. They found the signal of a tracker and followed it here, they failed to enter our system but we believe the signal wave may be enough for them to find the wolf. We tracked the hacker to a secure HYDRA location in Manhattan. Our sources have confirmed that they're headed to North Carolina, their system took us out before we could get specifics." Hill explained, while handing the files to the director and a copy to agent Romanoff.

"I'm betting she found the damn device and broke it. Again." Said Fury.

Natasha nodded and added, "We knew it would happen sooner or later."

"Yeah... I liked 'later' better." said Fury as he walked out of his office. "And without her breaking my stuff."

########

She drove the FBI van until she lost the other van that was chasing her and then for about an hour until she just dropped it off about three blocks away from a car lot she had seen earlier and then walked all the way there. She looked for the most normal car people could have until she spotted a slightly beat up grey minivan. She jumped into her new car, hotwired it, hit the radio and drove off. She went for about an hour and then stopped to fill the tank to the max, she'd need to drive for a while.

She stopped once at a diner to change her contacts and makeup and grab some food for the road. Once she was all set she turned on the radio again as Hotel California came on. She hummed along to the song as she drove away at top speed and for the first time in a while, she felt free. Driving with no limits and not knowing where she was going almost brought a smile to her lips, which was quickly replaced by a bitter chuckle as she remembered the last time she had done something like this. She went faster.

While she was driving, she began to think of a plan. She needed to find a new location as soon as possible and try to get rid of those blasted agents that followed her everywhere. There were two choices, the inconspicious or the unexpected. Let's just say the first choice hasn't worked in a while. She smirked as she got the perfect idea, that in her opinion was a very stupid and risky plan, but it was the only one she had. Though it was only seven o'clock, she was tired, she had been driving almost nonstop for more than a couple of hours and she had been up since before dawn, but she had to go on just a little longer. She knew they were already searching for her and if she wanted her plan, her escape to be a success, she had to go where nobody would ever expect her to go.

Eventually, she reached a small town that was on her way to her incredibly stupid plan. She stayed in the back roads and kept her guard up, ready to attack at any sign of bullet-proof vests and snipers. She knew it wasn't the most probable thing, but she'd been caught unaware too many times to not look over her shoulder. So far,no sign of anyone following her. She was almost out of the small town when suddenly there was the sound of distant gunfire. She took cover on instinct though she knew it was too far away to hit her. Staying close to the walls and the cover of buildings, she ran silently to the source of the racket. Suddenly, a man fell from the sky and landed just a few feet away from her. Dead. He must have fallen through the window above her in the second floor, but no injury killed him. She looked at him once more before frowning mentally to herself. Cyanide. This was a Hydra agent.

She ducked and rolled to the other side of the building to avoid being seen and headed to the opposite side of the building. She was interrumpted by two guards who attacked her with no hesitation, but she ducked out of the way and began her own attack. For just one second she saw red. She quickly dispatched them in a flurry of kicks and punches that silently and efficiently got them knocked out. She swiftly proceded to climb up the outer stairwell that led to the roof. She cursed under her breath as she saw a sniper aiming down a small window on the middle of the roof. She took a single shot and he was down, the gunfire below them masking the sound. She leaned over the window carefully. The room was full of bookshelves filled with old texts and trinkets, taking cover between them were over a dozen Hydra agents, closing in and cornering a small group of maybe five or six of what after a moment's inspection seemed to be Shield agents. Suddenly there was a loud sound as one of the shelves fell over, dust flew everywhere and for a second all was still until it settled again and from under the cloud an image was revealed. The thick, strong wood that once formed the sturdy piece of furniture was now mostly shattered by whoever or whatever it was that crashed into it. After a second, it was abruptly pushed over and out of the broken wood stood a man with a bloody lip, a torn up uniform, and a red and blue shield with a star in the middle.

* * *

 _A/N_

 _Hey guys! I know... It's been forever. I am so sorry! I wasn't exactly happy with this chapter but I thought you deserved at least a small chapter for making you wait for so long. Again, sorry. I had a lot of stuff come up and this new school year has proved to be more of a challenge that last year so I have been pretty busy with homework and my volleyball team, but I promise I'll update much more frequently now that I finally found some time to write. See you soon my lovely readers and thank you to all of you who have followed or favorited this story, it means a lot. Also special thanks to Sabina Mohammad for your review, I hope you'll keep enjoying the story._

 _Don't forget to review! Good stuff or bad stuff, anything that might help me improve my writing and make it more enjoyable for you is gratefully accepted._

 _Love, GMR_


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE: SAVED BY A DEMON

"Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

* * *

Steve Rogers was getting worried. Along with his team, he was sent to investigate a strange emition of radiation that SHIELD's machines picked up in a small town just beyond the outskirts of the city. There should have been no emition of that kind coming froma place like that, and so they sent Steve, who had been anxious for a mission ever since the lack of Hydra activity became too suspicoius for him to rest calmly. Now, he almost wished they hadn't been sent there. When they arrived to town, there were posters for two kids that had gone missing the month before, and unbeknownst to them, three more kids had gone missing from the neighbour town. When they found the building it had seemed empty, until the sound of a muffled scream led them to a heavy, locked door. It was behind this door that they found three kids no older than twelve, each of them being restrained by two grown men, while another one in a labcoat injected them one by one with a dark silvery liquid. They burst in. A few minutes later the soldiers had multiplied, the doctor had vanished, they found one other kid and one of the children who had been injected died suddenly as the formula was too strong for his small body. That was an experience that Steve did not want to repeat.

His team was suffering badly, one of the man was shot in the leg, most had a few bullet grazes, and two of them had at least a broken bone. The surviving children were hiding somewhere in the building, or had hopefully managed to escape, as they had run off when the shots started ringing. He himself wasn't looking all that pretty, but his injuries were by far the least severe, the serum was doing its work. He risked a glance at his team to make sure they were okay, but immediately returned his attention to the man who had just slammed him into a bookcase. A young man with brown hair and a mask that covered most of his face stood in front of him. He was strong, more so than normal. Steve thought grimly that he was more than likely the result of another attempt at making a supersoldier.

"Daniels!"

He turned to see what had happened. One of his man, Matt Daniels, was dead. Bullet to the head. He stared at his body for second when suddenly he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The man with brown hair use his distraction to attack but Steve blocked it with his shield. The attacker then puched and kicked at a speed that would be envied by most fighters. Steve blocked and responded to his attack and so began a deathly dance. Each of them was well trained and their strength was almost equal, though Steve was still stronger. However, the other man was faster and that balanced the slight difference in strength. All around them there were the sounds of gunshots and fighting. A few bodies lay on the ground, unmoving. The tension of danger could be felt a mile away. Both man were fighting relentlessly, but the man with brown hair and a mask won the upperhand. Steve started to give ground, albeit unwillingly, allowing the attacker to move closer and land more direct hits. Even then, they still fought with little differnce between them, tough even Steve could tell that the other man had more training.

Suddenly, a well placed movement, complete with the sound of Steve's wrist breaking, sent the patrotic shield flying out of the captain's reach. Without his shield and with a broken wrist, his oponent's superior training became much more evident and Steve's fighting began to falter. He looked around him quickly but the shield was nowhere to be found. The other man took the opportunity to shoot.

His hand instinctively raised to his wound, right between two of his lower ribs. His friends were a few meters away from him, fighting, wounded or even dead. The smell of blood was everywhere, he could taste it, the sounds of flesh pounding flesh and the deafening roar of gunshots became all he could hear. He was injured, his team and friends were in danger, his shield was nowhere to be seen. His heart was pounding and his breath grew heavy as he faced down the man who had seen an oportunity. The chance to kill captain america.

Then, it all happened in a flash, as the man fell to the ground with a small knife embeded in his throat. Then, three more men fell dead, with bulletholes right in the middle of their forehead. Perfect shots. _Sniper? No, not likely._ With the threat gone, Steve turned to see who saved him, but there was nobody there. He looked around him quickly trying to identify the person who had killed the men but all he saw was the hint of a shadow dissapearing down a corridor. He glanced quickly to check on his team to find that only a couple of attackers were left, so he ran after the shadow.

* * *

Nothing. That's what Steve found when he went after the shadow pursuing the one he thought had been his savior. Well, nothing that pointed to the mysterious shadow, but he found something worse. After chasing the shadow for a minute, he lost it, even with his superior speed, the closer he got was just barely enough to make out the lightness and flexibility with which the hooded figure seemed to be moving, but he was eventually left behind to wander through the building looking for a clue. Rooms. He found half a dozen of rooms, each one with a different purpose, some more obvious than others. One room was a cage-like prison with five small beds made of hard, cold metal. Another was a surgical room with an operations table and a dozen medical instruments. Then there was a strange reforced room with a bulletproof one-way window that led to an observation room. The steel walls of the secure room was littered with clawmarks and scratches along with a few dents and burnmarks. _Experiments_. Steve later realized. The room next to that one was almost like a small classroom, but with fewer desks and cuffs on the chairs. The rest of the rooms were a bit less interesting. There was an office of some kind but the room was unoccupied except for a bare desk, with no evidence of any kind, and the remaining room was completely empty. The only other interesting fact he found, was a small splatter consisting of a few droplets of a sustance he knew very well; blood.

He frowned and looked around him, hoping to find the shadow, however unlikely it might be to find it now that he had lost its trail. He moved quickly and silently through the building, but there was no sign of the hooded figure. Disappointed, he headed back to the main entrance with the purpose of reassembling the team. He was pleasantly surprised to see them already together waiting for him. However, that feeling was short-lived as his eyes found the still body of Matt Daniels. The twenty-two year old agent whose first field mission without his SO was also his last. The men were quiet and somber as they picked up their equipment and tended to their injuries as best as they could before they had access to any doctors. One of the agents spotted the children who had run off earlier watching them though a pile of crates near the entrance. He approached them slowly, as one would approach a wounded animal. Hesitantly, the eldest boy, who seemed to be somewhere around ten years old, approached him. The other children followed him slowly, eyeing the agents warily, as they copied the actions of the boy they had taken to as leader.

Suddenly a small gaunt looking girl about eight years old appeared opposite to them, walking out from behind the wall that kept her hidden and towards the other children.

"Ellie!" The youngest, a tiny girl with big doe eyes, cried, hugging the newcommer with a fierce grip."I knew you were okay! I knew it!" The six year old cried, "Kyle said you would never come back, he said they took you _there_ and-"

"Gracie!" The older boy whispered, signaling her to be quiet, as he continued to scrutinize the group of agents.

"Hey, it's okay, we're not gonna hurt you." Steve said in a soothing tone as he took a careful step forward. "We're the good guys, okay? We'll take you back home, we are not gonna harm you."

The boy took a small step backwards as soon as Steve began his advance, but quickly caught himself to avoid looking weak in front of the strangers. He listened silently to the captain's words and considered them for a moment before nodding almost impercievably.

"What's your name?"

The boy didn't answer, but the small girl with the pretty eyes did. "Gracie! I mean- Uh- Grace." She said sheepishly, looking at her shoes while the boy just sighed and smiled just a bit before shutting down again.

"Hello Gracie, I'm Steve." The captain said softly and with a small smile. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"They took us here!" She said with a small frown.

"Why did they take you here?"

"Kyle said they take naughty kids..."

"Really?" Steve frowned.

She nodded, "We have to be good or they... they'll..."

"Take you _'there_ '?" He asked worriedly when he saw the dark looks that came over all of the children's faces. His mind was running with awful scenarios, and even more so when she nodded fearfully and started crying.

"They took Ellie there." She said in between quiet sobs and sniffling.

A new voice joined the conversation, "Hey... Shh... She's okay, she's just come back remember? I won't let them hurt you." The boy said, stepping up to hug the Gracie and trying to calm her down.

She finally stoped crying and looked up slowly. A small frown was on her face as she said in a small voice, "You promise?"

"I promise, they won't hurt you."

Steve looked at the boy and asked him, "What's your name kid?"

"Daniel." He answered, though he still looked at them with a mix of mistrust, doubt, curiousness, and maybe a glimmer of hope.

"We're gonna keep you all safe, okay?" Steve said, with a small feeling of acomplishment as Daniel nodded to his words. "They take anyone else... uh- _there_? Can we help?"

Unexpectedly, it was the frail girl with the haunted look in her eyes that answered, "They're all dead." Ellie said in a vacant whisper.

Any men who did not look horrified or worried before, now definetly did.

"How did you escape?" Steve asked carefully.

The girl didn't move for a second until she finally looked up at him with a frown and cold eyes and said, "She stabbed him. The woman in black saved me. She stabbed him."

* * *

 _A/N_

 _Short chapter, I know, but it just felt like the perfect place to end it. So... Did you like it? Did you hate it? Please review!_  
 _Next chapter should be up sometime next week. See you then!_

 _-GMR_


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: THE START OF SOMETHING BIG

"Good things do not come easy. The road is lined with pitfalls." - Desi Arnaz

* * *

Director Nick Fury was looking out the window, down at all those persons who just went on with their day, with no idea of the dangers that lurked in the shadows. Sometimes, he envied them, he wished he could remember a time when he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder and ponder on whether or not the enemy was stronger. He smiled grimly to himself. Yeah right! This was his life, and always had been. Someone had to protect those who hadn't looked closely at the shadows.

Well, he thought, at least if I were 'normal' I wouldn't be breaking my head over a certain mutt's actions.

He felt eyes on him and looked at the reflection on the window. "I din't hear you come in."

"Sir."

"Any progress, agent Hill?" He asked, finally turning around to face the agent.

"No sir. Agent Romanoff has left a message for you." Maria Hill answered.

He raised an eyebrow and extended his hand to receive the piece of paper. "A post-it note?"

Hill cleared her throat, "She was in a hurry."

Possible lead. Call the guy, we need help. Meet at the tower in one hour.

Fury sighed, "Hill, tell Stark I'll be at his tower in an hour."

"Yes sir."

"Also, tell him if he runs, I'll make damn sure that the materials he brought in from Japan yesterday will end up in Shield's custody. You know, security protocol."

"Yes sir." She said, suppresing an amused smile as she walked out of the office. She had a call to make, and a genius billionaire to threaten.

* * *

While Fury and the agents looked for a clue that may help them find the wolf, she was driving aimlessly through the country. She had no plan. Not really. All she had right now were the basics of any reasonable plan that didn't involve her violent death or being held in a dark hole for an indefinite amount of time. Lay low, stick to the shadows, don't call unnecesary attention, and stick to solitude. That was it.

She was impatient to make a move, get to relative safety once again, but she was smart enough to know that without a solid plan she would be caught or killed quite easily. It seemed that lately, she was finding herself in many close calls. This meant one of two things; she lost half of her experience in a few months, or her chasers were upping their game. No matter the answer, it was clearly bad news for her.

She sighed as she noticed how late it had gotten, she would have to stop to rest soon. She thought over her situation for the rest of the drive, idea after idea reaching a dead end. No matter how many times she looked at it from a different angle or turned the situation around to think of a new solution, she could find no way for this story to end happilly. After a while, her mind wandered to the incident she had witnessed a few hours ago. They were doing it again. The rose was back. She shuddered as she thought of what those kids must have gone through. It was probably similar to what she had suffered. Yes, the rooms were very similar in purpose. This was definetly the rose, but then, why were there Hydra agents if it was a Black Rose base?

Her head was reeling with the new possibilities that her latest realization could entail. If Hydra had taken over the Rose, that meant they were stronger than she thought, but if Hydra had actually joined forces with the Rose... She shook her head to rid herself of the idea. It could mean the fall of present-day society.

The rest of the drive, she didn't dare let her thoughts wander. A few minutes later, she spotted a small hotel to the side of the rode. If she wanted to think properly, she'd have to sleep a couple hours. Maybe things would be clearer in the morning.

* * *

"Stark, let me up now!" Fury called from the lobby as JARVIS connected him with Tony. Apparently, Stark was busy and was not seeing any visitors, that is what the AI told Fury.

"Hey Jarvis, tell captain patchy that I'm busy." Tony said as he walked to his minibar.

"No need sir, the connection is holding quite perfectly, Director Fury can hear your words clearly."

"Stark, if you don't let me up right now, I'm blowing up the sit you left at HQ."

"Sir, it may be prudent to allow the director access to a room."

"All right, fine! Take him to one of the guest common rooms."

"No need sir, he is already there."

"How did he even... You know what... Security breach! Again, on you!" He yelled at Pepper who was working on her computer.

"It's important!" She reasoned, as she looked up from the screen.

"It's always important!" Muttered Tony as he served himself and Pepper a glass of scotch. He handed her the drink, swallowed his in one gulp. "How do you even know what this is about?"

"Tony." said Pepper throwing a glare at him as he walked towards his lab.

"Fine! I'll do it! I'll go and talk with 'Mr. Eye-patches-are-cool' " he rambled as he turned around and headed for the elevator. He asked JARVIS to take him with Fury, but not before calling over his shoulder to Pepper, "If I die of boredom, it's on you!"

She just shook her head and muttered to herself as she finished her work and the lift took Tony to Fury.

The metallic doors opened and Tony walked out with his head held high and a glass of scotch in hand. He walked towards Fury, who was sitting in the couch, and sat across from him, lifting his feet on the table and taking a sip from his drink, "Hey, Nicky! What a surprise seeing you here!"

"Save me the sarcasm, Stark." Fury replied as he took out a flash drive from his pocket. "This," he said gesturing to the flash drive, "is all the information we've collected over the past six years regarding our target."

"Three things, number one being who's he, number two, six years? that long?, and number three why can't SHIELD do it, cause I'm pretty busy right now. Oh, actually there's a fourth thing. We?" said Tony.

"It's a 'she' not a 'he'. We don't know her name, we don't know her age, we don't know anything about her. We call her the Wolf. She-"

"The Wolf?"

"Yes. You've heard about her?" Asked Fury, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No. But I think I did read something about her when I was looking through your files... Why the nickname anyway?" Said Tony.

"That's what the field agents called her the first time we went after her. They said the way she moved and acted reminded them of a wolf."

Tony looked at him skeptical, "What, did she howl to the moon?" Fury rolled his eyes. "Also, you didn't answer my last question, we?"

"Agent Romanoff helped find most of this information."

"Right. Where is she anyway?"

"Behind you." Came the voice of Natasha, leaning against the wall behind Tony.

Tony, who had jumped startled at the assassins voice, closed his eyes and said, "Don't do that!" then, he went on to muttering something about reprograming Jarvis when Fury addressed him again.

"She's hacked into the CIA, FBI, KGB, SHIELD and even HYDRA, several times. She's in the radar of every single dangerous organization you can think of."

"Huh."

"Huh indeed."

"So, once again, why can't SHIELD do it?" Said Tony as he downed the rest of his drink.

"We've tried. I've sent several agents after her, but they all come back empty handed. It's hard to track someone when they can hack into your system to change their location. I want to know how," he said, leaning forward in his seat "how can someone hack into the most powerful organizations in the world, and escape time and time again."

"So... you're basically saying wittle Nicky and his wittle men were outsmarted by a girl." Tony said mockingly, "Hmm... no surprise there!" He then noticed the look Natasha gave him and rushed to correct his words. "Not that girls aren't smart, or good fighters, they can totally win a fight." He said. "Or try to glare you to death..." He muttered later as an afterthought.

"One of the agents was Barton." Fury pointed out, ignoring Stark's words.

"So... Birdbrain couldn't do it, so what?" Tony said.

"He was stabbed." Fury said in a monotone.

"Well maybe he made her angry?" offered Stark while waving his hands around.

Fury cleared his throat, "Another one of my "wittle men" was Romanoff" he said. Tony's eyes widened and his face went just a shade paler.

"I was kidding!" He snapped wagging a finger at Fury and jumping to his feet. He just rolled his eyes. "You know, you are the one who just called her a little man. Not me. She is killing you."

Natasha rolled her eyes. She was starting to regret sugesting Stark's help.

"Stark! This is serious. She managed to get past our security as if it were no more than a kids password."

"Told you, you should have used my security system, you know, the one a genius designed." Tony said pointing at himself.

Fury smirked, "We did," With those words, Tony suddenly turned all business. "Guess it's not as good as you thought it was."

"Who is she?" Tony asked Fury. He simply handed him the flash drive, "See for yourself."

* * *

A/N  
That's it for now! Sorry for the short chapter, but next one will be way longer. Please review, I'd love to know what you think of the story so far.

See you next week,

GMR


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7: SECRETS UNRAVELLING.

"Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets." -Paul Tournier

* * *

Darkness, pitch black cells. ' _Hello?'_ A girl walking through cement tunnels.

Blinding stark white rooms. ' _Who are you?'_ Masked doctors and needles.  
Cold hard floor, blue lips, frozen fingers. _'Welcome home.'_ Chains and armed guards.  
Black and blue, bruised bodies. _'Why?'_ Orders bring punishment and rewards.  
Dead bodies. _'Mercy is weakness.'_ Guns and knives are the only allies. _  
_Crying, screaming, begging. _'Help me.'_ Scared pets make excellent liars.  
Searing heat, pain, blood. _'There's no one coming.'_ Heroes aren't real.  
Burning. _'Rose.'_ The body is the best weapon.  
Death. Pain. Guilt. _'The full moon is rising.'_ Fight to kill.  
Tic toc. ' _Run while you can.'_ Time's up.  
Bottomless, dark, the eyes of the devil. ' _Run!'_ No one can escape.  
Death. Death. Death. ' _Promise me!_ ' The knife strikes down-

* * *

She woke up with a gasp. Her breath erratic, her heart beat so fast she thought it would pop out. Her hands clenching and unclenching with every deep breath. She stared at the wall until she calmed down, a hand reaching up to furiously swipe away a treacherous tear.

She sighed and stood up. No point in going back to sleep now, she would have to leave in a few hours anyway, no harm in leaving early. She grabbed her stuff and returned the key to her room before getting back in the car and driving off again.

The dream may not have been pleasant, but it was useful. One of the voices in the dream had used just the right word to kick her mind into motion. Ideas rushed through her head, gladly accepted as a distraction from her memories, until one idea stuck.

She had a plan. It was a risky, stupid plan that would probably end up killing her but it was the only plan she had. For the last three days all she had done was drive around, stay low, eat, sleep, and drive again. She did try to think of a different plan, she wasn't suicidal, but in those three days of driving aimlessly to try and get them off her scent, her night terrors gave her the inspiration she needed and it was the only plan she had.

Hopefully, Romanoff had found the chip she planted on her boot when she kicked her last time they fought. She wondered if the assassin would keep the drive to herself or share it with Shield. Either way, it didn't really matter as long as it ended up with an avenger or a high-up Shield agent like Fury or Hill. If she wanted her plan to work, that was crucial. However, from what she had seen up until now she would assume Romanoff would attempt to hack it once or twice and then hand it over to Fury. By now, the data was probably already in Fury's hands or maybe someone under the director, trying to hack the endless walls of the small drive. She almost laughed at the thought of some poor guy slaving over his computer for hours only to find that his efforts were useless.

She had made that chip while staying in London, a little while after the alien's invasion in New York, planning for a situation just like this one, where she had a crazy plan or she needed something from them. She knew that if someone could do this it was the group of misfits called avengers. However, though she was fairly certain she would use the drive at some point in her life, she didn't think to use is so soon after first planting it.

This was certainly not something she expected to be doing with it. Her initial plan had been very different, but if the Rose was truly rising again, she had to try to stop them. Now she only had to wait. A few more days should be enough for the chip to go the hands of someone smarter and closer to Shield, just in case it was on some useless hacker's power. Yes. She would wait until she was sure it was in the right hands. Then, she would send the signal.

Just a few more days…

* * *

Pepper Potts paced around the tower. Three days. Three days of loud non-stop music. Three days of making coffee. Three. Three damn days since Fury gave him the drive and he was nowhere near cracking it. The algorithm was too complex. The code seemingly random and nonsensical. That's what she heard him mutter every time she neared him. He hadn't slept a wink for three days, apart from those five minute naps when he would dose of on his desk at the middle of the night, only to wake up with more determination than ever to finish it 'today'.

She was worried for him. He was chugging coffee like mad, not an hour would pass without him having a full cup of coffee in hand. The only food she managed to get to him was a couple blueberries, French fries and a pack of gummy bears. He wouldn't eat anything else.

Pepper swore under her breath as she heard- for the fifth time that day- Tony's incoherent mumbling being interrupted with a rather loud request for coffee.

"Hey!" Tony said unenthusiastically, not looking up from the screen as he heard the door open. After a few seconds passed he asked, "Did Pepper tell you not to bring me coffee? Cause if she did then I am telling you, do in fact bring me coffee."

"Well then, Pepper will just have to make sure Diane does not in fact bring you coffee." The redhead said from the door, an eyebrow raised at the billionaire.

"Who's Diane?"

"Oh you probably don't know her, you know, she's just the assistant who's been bringing you coffee every hour or so."

"Oh. So that's her name. What happened to- uh- Cam and… um, Jane?"

"Sam moved to England with her fiancée, Jade now works in administration though she still works here as she has done for the past three years." Pepper said, rolling her eyes.

"Huh." Was what Tony said as an answer.

"Tony, take a break."

"I'm fine" Pepper sighed and turned to leave. "By the way, can I get a coffee now?"

"No. Eat something." Was all she said before leaving.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yes, mom." But a small smile stayed on his face as he went back to work. Sadly, it didn't last long, as he quickly went back to his usual routine of muttering under his breath and mumbling about codes and unbreakable walls.

This assignment was getting him very annoyed with its infinite defense lines, but he couldn't help but admit to himself that he was enjoying the challenge. Not many people in the world could outsmart him. Usually, all it took was for him to ask Jarvis to run a decryption, but not this time.  
He paused for a moment and cracked his knuckles, preparing himself for another long session of endless typing. He set his fingers on the keys and took a deep breath. _Just a few more combinations_.

* * *

Away from the flurries of agents and heroes, in a cold, dark building made of concrete and steel, grown men quivered in fear and respect of their cruel leader. Two lines of armed men stood in the room forming a human corridor, and in the center walked a woman in red. Her high heels clicked with every step she took, noticing carefully the stance of each man and how they tensed up when they heard the clicking get closer. The corners of her lips turned up. Soon, she would get what she had wished for all these years. It was only a matter of time, the full moon was about to rise again.

But for the time being, she could only wait and try to keep herself entertained. The things she would do… Her hand reached unconsciously towards her back, where two katanas were strapped. She was about to grab one of her swords when a vibration in her pocket made her stop.

Her face remained stone cold as she reached for the source. The woman in red looked at her phone in annoyance. She was going to kill someone if the message wasn't a life-or-death situation. She had enough in her mind with that stupid man that decided it was a good idea to kidnap a teenaged girl. She was so boring, crying out for help, begging. Disgusting.

She read over the message twice, a smirk slowly beginning to appear when it buzzed again. The second message caused her face to become passive once again. She sighed to herself in disappointment, but apparently it was loud enough for one of the new soldiers to hear. He looked a bit nervous as he whispered to the man beside him, "What's going on?"

Immediately there were several sharp intakes of air and silent gasps as the others glanced pitifully at the newbie, who clearly didn't know what she was capable of. She gave him one cold look before the corners of her blood red lips slowly turned upwards in a shark-like grin, her eyes showing nothing more than coldness and hate.

The man gulped noticeably and the ones standing beside him quickly moved to the side and away from the unlucky man.

She slowly walked towards him, her almost red eyes set on him as if he were prey and she was a huntress. Then, with a sickly sweet voice she asked

"Something wrong?"

"N-no milady." He stuttered looking at everywhere but her eyes. The eyes that pierced through your very soul.

Suddenly her gaze softened, "Good." Then it flickered crimson as she quickly unsheathed two long swords and stabbed him in the chest, turning them slowly as he chocked and cried, "Unfortunately for you...I'm not in a good mood." She said before taking back her swords and swiftly slitting his throat as she turned to look at the others, "Any more questions?" She asked with a smile, before it quickly faded away, "How predictable."

She put away her swords and walked away as she called over her shoulder, "Divel! I want Zanik ready for combat by tomorrow night."

The man nodded quickly and scurried away to do what she said before she could think of something else to put her in a bad mood.

Meanwhile, she walked away, swinging her hips from side to side as she carelessly threw the door open with a harsh push from her hands, making the door slam against the wall with a loud thump that made some of the people present flinch.

She walked through the building like a wolf passing through a land of sheep. Everybody got out of the way as soon as they heard the unmistakable click of her heels on the hard floor.

Once she was completely alone she grabbed her phone and read the message quickly. Her eyes lighting up slightly with a crazed glint as a wide menacing grin appeared on her blood red lips.

Everything was going perfectly to the plan. Soon, her soldiers would give her what she had yearned for all this time, but in the meantime, why not have some fun? Maybe the man wasn't so stupid after all...

She sent her answer back without hesitation, the crazy in her eyes growing with the second, the chemicals in her blood magnifying her reaction as her eyes suddenly flashed red.

She looked at the text once again and let out one of the most chilling sounds that a person can make; a laugh fueled by both, joy and bloodthirst. Her laugh resonated throughout the compound as she read the message again and again, burning with anticipation. Soon. Very soon.

* * *

In that same building, in a dark room of cold cement floors, a teenage girl was hanging from her wrists by a chain that connected to the ceiling. A sob ripped its way through her chest when she heard the woman in red laugh. Now she was sure that her pleas for help had fallen on deaf ears. No one was coming. Her torturer was telling the truth. The man with bottomless eyes was right. No one would save her.

* * *

A/N

Sorry, the chapter is a bit late, my internet hasn't really been working lately so it took a while, but now it is here. Expect next chapter by saturday or sunday.

Please review!

-GMR


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8: THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO START

"Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now." - Mattie Stepanek

* * *

|Error| Access Denied_

"Jarvis try the butterfly algorithm…"

|Error| Access Denied_

"You know what, try everything we haven't tried."

|Error| Access Denied_

"Jarvis!"

|Error| Access Denied_

"Come on!"

|Error| Access Denied_

"Damn it!"

"Tony! It's almost four in the morning! Shut the hell up and go to sleep!"

"I'm busy!"

|Error| Access Denied_

"Son of a bitch!"

"Sleep. Now. Tony." Pepper said, now standing by the door with her arms crossed over her chest. Her hair was messy and she was in her pajamas, having climbed out of bed after being roughly awakened by a particularly loud voice.

This had been going on for days. Tony refusing to move from the computer, Pepper pleading or yelling at him to eat, sleep or take a shower. Of course, then there was Tony ignoring Pepper.

"Come on, work…"

|Error| Access Denied_

"Tony…" Pleaded Pepper. He finally looked at her and his eyes softened, he noticed the bags under her eyes and the tiny mark on the corner of her lower lip that always appeared after countless hours of biting at her lip when she was worried. Even he, in his mentally and physically exhausted state, could tell how tired and worried she was.

"Alright." He sighed. "Alright fine, I'll be there in a few minutes okay? Just go back to bed." She looked at him hesitantly and he added, "I promise. I'll only be a few minutes. Go back to sleep honey."

She nodded and gave him a tired smile. "Okay." She whispered. "Goodnight Tony." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before walking back to her room.

Tony sighed and went back to the computer. Just a few more tries and he'd go to bed.

|Error| Access Denied_

Tony woke up to the sound of the door opening. He blinked lazily at the screen and turned to the source of the noise. Pepper stood at the door, she sighed and gave him a weak smile. "You didn't go to bed at all did you?"

"I think I fell asleep…" A yawn cut him off.

"Want some breakfast?"

"Coffee. What time is it?"

"It's almost ten." She answered. "What else do you want? I'm not letting you have just coffee."

"Can I have donuts? I want donuts."

"Well at least it's not gummy bears…" She muttered to herself as she left to get breakfast.

After eating a couple of donuts and drinking his coffee, he went back to work. Lines of code after code, countless algorithms, and many hours later, he was still in the same hunched over position leaning over the keyboard and staring at the screen.

 _|Error| Access Denied_ |Error| Access Denied_ |Error| Access Denied__

He groaned in frustration and face planted onto his keyboard.

"Stark."

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes, turning around and looking at what was the sixth interruption in the last hour. "Come on, I just ate half a dozen donuts! I am not hungry!"

"Neither am I." Said the director of SHIELD, giving the billionaire a light glare mixed with amusement. Tony just grumbled under his breath and went back to the computer. He wasn't typing anything, or even doing something, he just stared at the screen for several seconds. "Progress report, are you in?"

Tony rubbed his eyes and gave a frustrated groan, "Yes. Completely. I just like staring at screens, it's a hobby. Quite relaxing."

"Stark…" Fury groaned in an exasperated tone, glaring at the irritating man.

"I'm almost there, alright? Just need to try a couple of theories."

"Well, try faster." Said Fury as he turned to leave, stopping to drop a thin folder on the nearest table. "By the way," He added before stepping out. "You might want to talk to Rogers."

* * *

She hit the punching bag again. Her relentless assault had already gone through four bags in the last hour, all of them ruined beyond repair. The not yet open gym turned out to be the perfect place to let out everything. _Jab, block, right uppercut, knee_. Today, she had once again woken with a scream. _Knee, jab, jab, block, elbow, hit_. The same nightmare over and over again. _Jab, left uppercut, jab, left hook, block, knee._ Every single time. _Jab, jab, right hook, block, jab._ Death. _Jab. Block._ Blood. _Elbow, jab._ Pain. _Right hook._ Rose. _Knee, jab, roundhouse kick. The punching bag goes airborne._ The knife strikes down. _Step, aim, shoot._ Bang! The punching bag falls to the floor. Three bullet holes. Two to the chest, one to the head. She looks down at her bleeding knuckles and sighs, she should have wrapped them. However, it doesn't bother her much, they will be completely healed within a couple of hours.

She left the gym a few hours before opening time and headed back to her temporary home. A rundown apartment in the outskirts of the city. The place was not pretty or even really comfortable, but it was isolated and quiet. The grey building barely attracting any attention. Its cracked walls being the most attractive feature of the apartment.

Today was the day. Her plan had to be put in action. She grabbed her phone and stared at it for a second. Once she did this, the little sliver of freedom she had left would be gone. Her eyes drifted towards her wrist, were the tattoo of a black rose tainted her skin forever. It taunted her, calling to her weaknesses, tempting her to run. But if she didn't do this, nobody would be free.

She looked at her phone and closed her eyes, her finger hovering over the button that would start her end. She knew that as soon as she sent the signal she was probably condemning herself to death, but this wasn't the first time she did something risky, and she still lived. She sighed as she thought of everything that could go wrong. Was it worth the risk? Probably. Was she ready to potentially sacrifice everything she'd done with such a gamble? Probably not. But she saw no other choice. She pressed the button with trembling hands, sucking in a breath and clenching her other hand into a fist.

 _Connection Successful. Allow access__

She hesitated. Though she had an idea of who might be in possession of the drive, she couldn't be completely sure, so she typed.

 _Allow access Level 1. Start Program._

Now she had to wait until the person on the other side of the connection made his move. She waited for mere seconds before a new message appeared.

 _Scanning_  
Identity confirmed. Stark, Anthony._

A slight smirk crossed her lips as she read his name, almost laughing out loud, of course Stark would be the only one to signal back at three in the morning. Perfect. Things were going just as planned. She cracked her knuckles and placed her fingers on the keyboard. The show was about to start.

 _Hello Mr. Stark. Would you like to play a game?__

* * *

"Are you sure you've seen it before?" Fury asked the black widow, his gaze unwavering as he questioned her.

"Absolutely." She answered, not a single emotion showing in her stone like mask.

"Where does it come from?" He continued.

"I don't know. Nobody does."

"Are there any particular features that may be of use?"

"I doubt it. It is untraceable. The design is unique."

"You act as if it were something bad." The director of SHIELD said, skeptically.

"It is." She hissed. Her visage falling temporarily.

"How sure are you?"

"I'd bet my life on it."

"Then, we must hurry, this might be bigger than expected."

"I told you we'd need help."

"Yes, well, I didn't expect to assemble the team for one, however enigmatic, human fugitive."

"As you said, sir, this is bigger than any of us expected."

"You never told me what it meant." He said, right before she left.

"It means Death is coming." The assassin said, not looking back as she strode out of the director's office.

Fury frowned and a worried look overcame his features as he looked at the single image that caused one of his best agents to falter. A net of intricate patterns, all in black, forming the unmistakable shape of a rose.

* * *

A/N  
That's it for today! It is a bit shorter than usual but I think that was the right note with which to end this chapter. Sorry for the delay! I hope you enjoyed it, reviews are welcome as usual. See you in a few days!

-GMR


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**  
 **Hey guys! I'm sorry it took this long to update but I went on a trip with my brother and my cousin to this beautiful mountain range and there was no time to write, and when I came back I just wasn't feeling this story. The waterfalls and the scenery were quite inspiring but not for this story. (I did however get an idea for a Lord of the Rings story. I might post it when I'm done with this one) So I took I small break from writing RDLB, but now I'm back! So I just want to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. Sabina Mohammad, KnowInsight, madwamoose, I think I've already replied to you, but thank you anyway! Sam, I'm glad you enjoy the story. Steg11, I have no intention of stopping so don't worry. ka5terina, Thank you! I can't wait to see your reactions to that either. FAIRY4LIFE, hahaha don't worry, I'll try to keep a steady fix going your way. And to the anonymous, thank you too! I love seeing that people are enjoying my writing.**

 **Disclaimer:** **I don't own the avengers or anything that you recognize. Any references to other stories outside of my own creation are not mine.**

* * *

CHAPTER 9: SNEAKY SPIDERS

"I think this journal will be disadvantageous for me, for I spend my time now like a spider spinning my own entrails."  
\- Mary Boykin Chesnut

* * *

"Sir, you may wanna see this" The voice of Jarvis broke Tony from his thoughts. He raised his head from the desk, a small bit of hope returning to his eyes as he processed what Jarvis's words meant. There may be a lead. Tony's eyes flew to the screen and a giant grin formed on his face.

 _Scan fingerprint to enter__ Tony pressed his fingers into his holographic scanner and sent the data to the computer. The screen flickered and a message appeared.

 _Hello Mr. Stark_. _W_ _ould you like to play a game_?_

Tony raised an eyebrow and the corners of his lips quirked up in amusement and intrigue.

 _Re Depends on the game. _ He typed back, eager to find out more, yet unusually cautious. After all, not many people could beat him when it came to encrypting and hacking.

 _Do you like puzzles?__

 _Re Only the interesting ones. Otherwise they are just boring._

 _I assure you. It is not boring at all__

 _Re How can you be so sure? I am a very... changeable man, you know?_

 _I know who you are. Would you like to play the game?__

 _Re What's in it for me?_

 _Saving the world__

He raised an eyebrow to himself, getting more interested every second of the conversation.

 _Re And you? What do you win?_

 _A promise, kept__

 _Re What if I lose?_

Several seconds passed, the other side was quiet. Tony frowned and was about to resend his question when there was a sudden answer.

 _Do you love someone?__

 _Re Everyone loves something or someone._

 _Then you'd better not loose__

 _Re Is that a threat?_

 _Do you want it to be? Or is Pepper the one in charge of handling threats? She does seem quite... fiery__

 _Re Look, I don't care who you are, but lay a finger on her and I will track you down and tear you down right now._

 _Well, I already know where you are, wouldn't I get to you faster? Besides, death is an old friend__

 _Re What the hell do you want anyway?_

 _I want you to play the game. I want you to win__

 _Re So, let me get this right. You expect me to agree to a game with no catch and no traps, apart from the fact that this game might be life threatening, and forgetting that you might have threatened me five seconds ago and may be planning my murder as we speak. Is that what you want?_

 _I believe that you've understood quite splendidly. Shall I take that as a 'yes'?__

 _Re If it's a trap, I will find you._

 _Mr. Stark, we both know that regardless of whether or not you believe this to be a trap, you are attempting to track me down as we speak. Though quite frankly, you are failing miserably, I can personally assure you that I am not currently standing in the middle of the ocean__

"Jarvis, have you tracked down the signal?"

"Yes sir, it appears to be originating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Would you like me to specify?"

"No, that's fine." He grumbled. He rubbed his eyes in mild frustration and paused. As dangerous as the game, whatever it was, seemed, his curiosity would not be satisfied until he knew what this was. He sighed and moved his fingers over the keyboard.

 _Re Alright, count me in._

 _Good. The game is on, Mr. Stark, make sure you're prepared__

Stark was quiet for a few seconds before speaking, "Well that was fun." He took a gulp of coffee and clapped his hands together. "Hey Jarvis, what do you make of Nick being so furious over a glorified game-obsessed hacker?"

"Sir, I do not believe him to be so interested in you to be called obsessive."

Tony tilted his head to the side and shrugged lightly, "Touché"

Suddenly, the messages disappeared and a small icon on the corner replaced them. He looked at the icon curiously, wondering what the file might contain and if it was dangerous, before shrugging and clicking it. His eyes roved over the information hungrily, widening a bit at every sentence. "Jarvis, tell Pepper I need another coffee." He said slowly, eyes still flying over words.

Finally, after a while, he leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. He finished his coffee in one go and rested the cup back on his desk before murmuring, "The Black Rose..."

* * *

"Hey, Barton, are you still alive?"

"I... think so." He said slowly.

"Good. We have a new mission."

"Come on Nat, is that all you got? I was stabbed." He said, in fake seriousness.

"I am aware of that. Though I did think you were tougher than a knife."

"You know, you are no fun. I'm fine though, still not completely healed, but I've had worse." He said, giving her a meaningful look and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

For half a second, her lips quirked up slightly, "I know."

"So," he cleared his throat, "to what may I owe this visit, agent Romanoff?"

"We're getting the band back together."

He raised an eyebrow, "Fury agreed?"

"Do you doubt my persuasion skills?" She narrowed her eyes.

Clint chuckled, "Nat, I think I know what you can do, no need to remind me."

Natasha's lips quirked up slightly, "You know, I'll call Steve in, so you're getting Banner this time."

"But he's so hard to find!" He gasped falsely.

"You'll manage."

"See? No fun."

Natasha rolled her eyes at her partner's antics, but she was trying hard to fight off the fond smile that refused to go away. Sometimes she wondered what would've happened if she hadn't met him. She'd probably be dead, or worse. She often found herself wishing they had met sooner, she had lived more on the month after she met him than she had in all the previous years. She shook her head and called him out on his childishness, to which he smirked and answered back with a few of her foolish deeds.

A few passing agents saw the two friends bickered back and forth like children. Many of the older agents would chuckle with a shake of the head wondering how two of the deadliest assassins they'd ever seen could be so childish sometimes. Others, mostly interns or new recruits, stared at them curiously until they realized who they were and scurried away quickly in fear that the Black Widow and Hawkeye would catch them staring. There were even some who regarded the pair with a mix between amusement, respect and fear.

Not one of them could have guessed what was about to happen.

First the lights went out. Agents stopped on their tracks, some drew their guns, others looked curious, a few were indifferent, but most were surprised. Natasha was one of the agent's to draw a weapon, Clint moved slowly towards the doors, when suddenly the lights turned back on.

Then came the gas. The air started smelling different. Not a major change, but just enough for someone to notice. A light, sweet scent was what alerted them to its presence. Clint was the first to notice. He warned Natasha and closed the doors. They covered the cracks and crevices with cloth, but the smell only grew stronger. The gas had to be coming through the air vents. Once they realized it they hurried urgently to cover them. Their heads grew heavy and their sight grew dim, but Natasha knew that if the gas was fatal, they had only seconds, minutes at most.

* * *

While bodies started falling in the corridors, Nick Fury walked towards the control room, glancing at the damage and attempting to assess the situation. An oxygen mask was strapped over his mouth and nose. The director needed to fix this quickly if there was to be a single SHIELD agent left by morning. His stride was strong and purposeful as he threw open the doors with a bang and looked to the few who were able to reach a mask in time. He was greeted with a shocked silence.

"Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on." He said, his eye scanning the thin crowd one by one. There were only two or three field agents, the rest were scientists, techs, and new recruits.

"We don't know sir." Practically squeaked out a petite redhead as his gaze fell on her.

He frowned slightly, "Who are you miss?"

"Agent Wells, Computer Tech." She answered quickly.

"Full report Agent Wells."

She froze for a second before nodding self-assuredly, "There was a virus in our main frame. Hidden, probably for days, ready to use. That's what caused the lights to go out. Someone activated it. We managed to get the system back up, but we think we were too late. The entrance log shows someone entered the archives room when the lights went off and then left right before they came back on. I believe they might have stolen information, sir."

He cursed under his breath and pointed to a skinny looking guy. "You, check the digital database for any recently deleted files." The guy nodded quickly and set to work, frowning slightly as he came upon a piece of information.

"Sir, there has been an unauthorized deletion of a file in the last ten minutes."

"File name?"

"MR-W021" The man read.

"What does it mean?" Spoke up one of the field agents that was in the room.

"I'm afraid, Agent Wills, that there's only one current mission starting with "W", and judging by the entrance log, she already got to the physical copies as well."

"You think it was her?"

"I doubt many others would be able to pull it off. I sent agents to investigate as soon as the lights went out, but the perpetrator still got away." Said Fury, "Besides, isn't that supposed to be her special talent, evading my agents?"

* * *

 _What the hell am I doing?_ Was the first real thought to cross her mind as she laid down on the lumpy bed. Maybe she should leave the country. Again. Perhaps then would the damage of her most recent idea be controlled. Without her there, who else would continue with her plan? _Who will stop the rose?_ She was trully foolish if she thought the rose woud stop looking for her. Even more so if dhe thought they would put their plans on hold. _Maybe they will be too distracted with their plans of domination to find her._ That would be her dream escapade. Her best work. Disappearing forever after giving the world a glimpse of her past. A dramatic farewell. _One that will kill the world_. She thought grimly.

She closed her eyes and reached for her dagger. Her fingers wrapped arround the leather-bound hilt with familiarity. She took a deep breath and conciously slowed her heartbeat, opening her crimson streaked eyes with a sudden start and flicking her wrist violently, the dry thud of her dagger sinking into the wall providing a sort of comfort that was only rivaled by the satisfaction of a hearty spar. _Maybe паук would spar with her if she asked nicely enough. After all, working with SHIELD, the red-head probably needed some entertainment._ She stared at the remains of the chopped spider that had received her frustration, half of it still hanging from its web. _I wonder if she'd be upset if I tried to stab her. Maybe then she'd spar with me. Wait... Didn't I stab her friend?_

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a high-pitched ring. Her gloved hand reached towards the ringing phone cautiously. She gripped it tightly and answered tersely. "Yes?"

Her mouth opened in a silent gasp and her eyes widened as her face shifted to a confused and wary frown, from all the voices that could've greeted her, she did not expect the one that answered, "Hey Maugrim. You never called."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Thoughts? Ideas? Please Review!  
See you next week!  
GMR**


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10: A NEW DEVELOPMENT

"Every day brings new choices."  
-Martha Beck

* * *

 _"Are you a superhero?"_

 _The hooded girl's steps faltered for a moment before returning to their previous rhythm. "A superhero?" She said, looking down at the small girl that was currently following her, with a raised eyebrow and a sort of grim amusement dancing below her otherwise blank expression. "Why would you think that?"_

 _"Well, because you helped me… Though I don't think I've ever heard of you before…" The younger girl trailed off, uncertain._

 _"Kid," the teenager sighed, "First of all, I don't need the hussle and moral bother of being a superhero, and second, If you or anyone had heard of me before, I'd be dead by now."  
_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Look kid, just go home, you're too young to be walking around alone at night."_

 _"I can take care of myself." The girl huffed._

 _"I'm sure." She scoffed. "Sure looked like it when I saved your ass."_

 _"Well not all of us have superpowers..." The small girl muttered, causing the teen to stop walking.  
_

 _"Where the hell did you hear that?" She hissed._

She paused for a second and her hand relaxed against the phone, "That's not my name."

She was answered by a snort, "You never told me your name."

"So logically, my name is Maugrim?"

"Well, like I said, you never told me your name."

"That was not our agreement."

"Hey! I'm not complaining!" There was a pause on the line, "Will you ever tell me if I was right?"

"About what?"

"What your name used to be."

She sighed in exasperation, "Someday. I might. Why the sudden interest? You never pressed for an answer before."

"I heard you were in London again, take you back?"

"Where on earth did you hear that?" She snorted.

"The CIA."

"You mean you _illegally_ hacked into the CIA. You said you were going clean."

"I blame you. You're the first person I ever met who could do stuff like that."

"Andy, I'm a lousy role model." She argued. "Besides, you're avoiding the question, why did you call?"

"Maugrim, this isn't a social call." There was a pause, "If I'm right about who you were-"

"I never said you were."

"Maugrim!"

The tone of that word made her pause, "What happened, Andy?"

"If I'm right…" Andy stopped, taking a deep breath.

"What is it kid? Spit it out!"

"Alright." She sighed, "Maugrim, your sister is missing."

 _Your sister is missing._ She froze. "What?" She whispered.

"I'm sorry." Andy said hesitantly, knowing that saying stuff like that wouldn't help. Maugrim had always hated that kind of expressions. She had always told Andy that it was better to tell it buntly or say nothing at all, than to cover it up with sprinkles and glitter and then have the illusion ripped out. Andy didn't necessarily agree. She waited for some kind of response but there was none. "Are you oka-"

"I'm assuming you know what this means?" She cut her off. Andy sighed inwardly at the newfound coldness in the answering voice. They both knew she was avoiding the question.

"Yes." Andy said hesitantly and a slight tremor entered her voice.

"Then you know what I need to do."

Andy took a shaky breath. "There's..." She hesitated, "There's nothing you can do." Andy said, her voice now trembling obviously.

"Andy, you know damn well that I have no choice."

"Maugrim, if you do this," She pleaded, "You might die."

"I think it's a bit more likely than 'might' die."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Act like it's bloody nothing!"

"Then how should I act, Andy?" She growled. "I was planning on doing it anyway, your call has just confirmed the urgency of the matter."

"All right. What do you need me to do?"

* * *

"Sir, you've got a new message."

"If it's shield again, tell them I'm busy."

"It appears to have originated from our current _Jane Doe_ 's drive."

Tony stopped what he was doing and slid his chair towards the computer, "Show me."

A small dialogue box stared back at him, it was completely blank except for a small button in the lower right corner. Tony clicked it with a small shrug. Almost instantly a new window opened and a single message appeared.

 _W/: Don't tell Fury yet, wait 72 hours, after that you are free to tell shield everything you want._

A few seconds later, the message dissappeared. Tony sighed and took a big gulp of coffee, "Jarvis, I'm gonna need a cheeseburger."

"I will inform your assistant right away sir."

"Thanks buddy."

* * *

"Miss Red?" Stuttered a nervous man as he entered the room. His eyes flitted to the unconcious girl hanging from the ceiling before going back to staring at the floor.

"What?" His boss answered, annoyed at being interrupted again. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Spit it out."

"There's news from our contact at Shield." He gulped, "There- There's a copycat sending messages on your behalf."

" _What_?" The man's eyes widened as he watched his employer's go red and he instinctively took a step back, but he was too late. The small blade slit his throat in an instant.

"Oh Red." Sighed a man in annoyance, "Must you always do that? That's the fifth one this week!"

"Shut up Weston. That copycat could have ruined something!" She growled, turning towards the expensively dressed man.

"Oh come on Red!" He grinned, "Don't be so dramatic. This might be a good thing. Now that Shield believes them to be us, they'll be too focused looking for them."

"Exactly! I thought you said it was our turn, but we can't do that if they don't even look our way!"

"Calm down Red, we don't want another soldier dead today, we'll have no men left by the end of the month if you keep up like this."

"Fine. At least this way I can play a little while longer." She said looking back at the girl hanging from her wrists.

"That you will."

* * *

A/N

That was a bit shorter than usual, but it's all for today. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I hope you will like the way the story is heading. I'll try to upload a new chapter in a couple of days, if not, then it should be up by the end of next week.

See you guys later!  
-GMR


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

"The way of a man's heart will be foreshadowed by what goodness lies in him - coming from above, and from around; but a way foreshadowed is not a way made."  
-Donald G. Mitchell

* * *

"Weston?" Red called before the man left the room.

"Yes, Red?"

"What was the message this… _copycat_ sent Shield?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

He smirked, "The tattoo and a rose number. Though the design was… different."

"Do you have a picture?"

"Of course. I'll have one of the recruits bring it to you." He nodded and stepped towards the door.

"Oh, by the way? Don't get rid of the body yet," She smirked, "I want the girl to see it when she wakes up, she is quite entertaining when she's scared. One would think she's never seen blood in her life."

"Yes ma'am." He said with a mock salute.

Red laughed and looked at the now waking girl, "Hello Cassandra!" She greeted, walking towards the young girl, "Sleep well?"

"What- What the hell do you want with me?" Cassandra croaked, still drowsy after waking up.

Red lifted a hand to her heart and exclaimed in mock offense, "Me? Nothing at all, just a bit of…" She paused, her gaze sliding to the ground, "Fun." She finished.

Cassandra warily followed her gaze to the ever-growing puddle of blood, her wide eyes picking up the trail until they spotted the corpse of a young man. She could not choke back the frightened sob that left her lips.

"Come on Cassy, it's just a teensy bit of blood," Red giggled "No need to get dramatic."

Silent tears streamed down Cassandra's face as she stared at the unmoving body, her body trembling violently. "You are a monster." She whispered brokenly.

"That's offensive." Red pouted. "Fine, if you want me to go, I'll go." She stated, before flipping off the switch and leaving the room, slamming the door behind her, and leaving Cassandra in total darkness.

She sauntered to her office and sat at her desk, where a file was already waiting for her. There were two things, a code and a picture of the rose tattoo, like the one on her wrist. _Almost_ like the one on her wrist. She knew it was different. Somewhere among the hundreds of lines that formed the complex symbol of the rose, there was a mistake. Something wasn't right. She compared it to the one on her wrist and grinned. A puzzle. Everything was the same except for a few lines. Extra lines that shouldn't be there. She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and starting on the top left corner of the rose, drew every line that wasn't supposed to be there. Her eyes were frantically scanning every inch of the flower, her mind systematically skipping every line that belonged, her hand quickly scribbling away on the piece of paper with unnerving precision. She had a puzzle. A game.

She sketched every detail. Every dot. Everything that was wrong with the flower. Until at last, she was done. Exactly forty-two lines had been added to the design, and on her piece paper, the image of a wolf's head against a full moon was clear.

She smiled and looked at the series of letters and numbers that were included on the file; _0912P2._ Her high pitched laugh filled the air around her and a few of the men guarding the base shuddered when they heard it. Nothing good was coming out of this.

* * *

 _"Look kid…"_

 _"I am not 'kid', I have a name you know!"_

 _"Fine! What's your name kid?"_

 _"Andy!" The slight girl answered, "Yours?"_

 _"It's none-of-your-business kid," She rolled her eyes at the girls glare. "_ Andy."

" _Fine! If you don't want to tell me, I'll just have to name you." She smirked, "Snuffles."_

 _"That's a cat's name." The teenager rolled her eyes._

 _"Okay then, a dog's name." The girl rolled her eyes, a habit she seemed to be getting from the older girl. "Lady."_

 _The teenager rolled her eyes again, "At least it's not snuffles…" She muttered disgruntledly._

Andy smiled as her phone started ringing, reaching to grab it, "Hello?"

"Hey Trinity."

"Maugrim!?" She exclaimed in mock shock. "My, my, what a surprise!"

"Seriously?"

"Come on Lady, with what I just did I need some fun." She replied.

"Haven't heard that one in a while."

"True. But you haven't said hello either in while."

"Sorry." The older girl answered blandly.

"No problem, ma' Lady."

"Please don't start with that now." She grumbled, "I rather prefer Maugrim."

"That's not how it works."

"You had no trouble calling me that earlier." She pointed out.

"I was distracted!"

"You are always distracted."

 _"Lady?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"We should have superhero names."_

 _"Why?" The teenager asked, slowly, not lifting the gaze from the computer._

 _"Because we are awesome?"_

 _"We are not heroes." She reminded the younger girl._

 _"Fine! How about villain names." The scrawny girl proposed._

 _"I don't think you'd classify as evil." The older girl snorted, still working intently on the screen._

 _"We need them!"_

 _"Andy…" She sighed._

 _"Really! What if we get separated and we need to contact each other? With the names we'll know it's really us!"_

 _"Fine! Just stop blabbering! I need to concentrate on this, and so should you."_

 _"But you already taught me how to do that!" The girl complained._

 _"This one is harder to break." She smirked._

 _"Fine." The small girl sat down at the computer grumpily, muttering under her breath about the need for an alias as her fingers typed relentlessly and quickly everything she had been taught. "There. See? Done."_

 _"You are getting faster." She remarked neutrally, but the small girl could tell it was still somewhat proudly._

 _"Thanks." She grinned, before shaking her head. "Now names. You pick mine, I'll pick yours."_

 _"Okay kid, what about…" She thought for a second and smiled slightly, "Supreme Annoyance."_

 _"Come on!" She pouted until she suddenly smirked, "You are Super Spy."_

 _"You've gotta be kidding me…"_

 _"Do you want to be Fluffy? Or maybe Patches? I know! Snuffles!"_

 _"Don't even try it."_

 _"Fine, but then I get a cool name." She said, "Maybe some kind of hacker superhero."_

 _"You have a long way to go to be a hacker yet." She scoffed._

 _"I know! You are Maugrim!" She exclaimed. "You know, act all cold, but you are just a softy."_

 _"Seriously…"_

 _"Come on! Now you have to give me a name!"_

 _"Okay…." She hummed for a few seconds before looking back at the bouncy girl. "Trinity."_

"Andy, just tell me already."

"Hey Lady? It's done."

"Good. Now get the hell away of wherever you are and don't go back. They're coming after you, Andy."

"I'm not stupid, I hit the road as soon as I was done. With what's coming, I wouldn't want to be out in the open anyway."

"Stay hidden. Good luck Trinity."

Andy smiled, "I'll see you Maugrim." She hung up and stared at her phone for a second. _Oh Maugrim, you are going to need a hell of a lucky number to get out of this one._

* * *

A/N

Hey guys! Two chapters in two days! (Kind of short but hey, two chapters!) I hope I'll be able to keep updating like this, but if not, expect the next chapter by the end of the week. See you guys later!

GMR


End file.
